James Cameron's AVATAR Sequels Delayed

The planned sequels to James Cameron's 2009 Avatar film has been delayed. In an interview with The Star, the writer/director said that the second Avatar film scheduled for December 28, 2018, has been delayed due to plans to make four sequels simultaneously.

"Well, 2018 is not happening," Cameron said. "We haven’t announced a firm release date. What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So we’re not making Avatar 2. We’re making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam. So I know where I’m going to be for the next eight years of my life. It’s not an unreasonable time frame if you think about it. It took us four-and-a-half years to make one movie and now we’re making four. We’re full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we’ll be 24-7. We’re pretty well designed on all our creatures and sets. It’s pretty exciting stuff. I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we’re going to draw that curtain when the time is right."

In April 2016, Cameron appeared at 20th Century Fox's CinemaCon panel and announced that the first Avatar sequel would come out on December 28, 2018, followed by three additional films on an annual basis.

This wouldn't be the first delays to the proposed Avatar sequel, as in 2011 Cameron said it would come out in 2014. Since that time however, Cameron brokered a deal with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for a themed Avatar land at the Animal Kingom park, which is scheduled to open May 27.